INTRODUCTION. 



xxxi 



worked in much the same way as an English drift-net ; it is set well out in the river 

 and across the current (diagram 11), one end being fastened to the stern of the boat, the 

 other attached to a large float. The fisherman rows gently down-stream, keeping the 

 net fairly taut, so that the fish coming up-stream, as they generally do, get entangled 

 in it. On the Lakes it is payed out from the stern of a boat to enclose a semicircular 

 piece of water, and then the two ends are brought together and the net is dragged in 

 (see diagram 12). A stake-net, known on Lake Menzaleh as a "hadan," is used 



Fig. 12. 



to a small extent on some of the lakes and in the large pools near Rosetta. Some 

 seen at the latter place measured about 10 metres in length and -|-1 metre in width 

 and had a J-inch mesh. Several of these nets are generally set together in a line in 

 shallow water where there is no stream, being fixed below the level of the water and 

 attached to thin sticks about 4 feet long and about 1 metre apart (diagram, fig. 13). 



Fig. 13. 



























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The greater proportion of the fish taken on the lakes belong to the genus Mugil, 

 which the natives salt and convert into "fessikh." One of the most interesting scenes 

 to be witnessed on Lake Menzaleh is the capture of the gravid females of the Bouri 

 (M. cephalus) during the breeding-season. The males of this species are called " lebt " 

 and the female " hut." The best place to see these operations is at Gemil on the 

 North of the lake, which is connected with the sea by a narrow and fairly deep 



